Personal and Public Communications

Social and Ethical Issues

Consider the following when exploring this area of study:

• The psychological consequences of people being in permanent contact
• Ethical considerations of control as the result of communciation technologies
• Impact on health of the use of mobile devices
• Effect on personal productivity of personal communication devices
• Effect on the environment
• Social effects of telecommuting
• Social effects of the widespread use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing
• Social and environmental impact and ethical considerations of telecommuting
• Social impact and ethical considerations of: distance learning, digital entertainment, global media and public information systems

Knowledge of Technology

Key terms:

• convergence
• teleconferencing
• videoconferencing
• telecommuting
• digital television
• push-pull technologies

Related concepts:

• mobile phones and associated use
• digital versus live entertainment
• features of telecommuting: environmental aspects, flexibility, productivity, business and social relationships
• face-to-face communication versus communications via technology
• requirements for tele and videoconferencing
• Intrusions into IT systems eg phone tapping
• emerging technologies due to convergence of computers and communication technology eg VOIP
• public informaiton systems eg traffic control, security camera sytems

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